


You are a flame without a shadow of a doubt

by LightningHaski



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Past Child Abuse, Self-Harm, Slow Burn, Superpowers, for a little bit - Freeform, not a lot right now though, only in chapter 3 and its not explicit, tags and ratings will change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:21:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23839783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightningHaski/pseuds/LightningHaski
Summary: Ian has fire powers and Mickey has the ability to control shadows around him. They are the most unlikely pair, but they work well together. This is their story of how they went from strangers to lovers.
Relationships: Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich
Comments: 32
Kudos: 60





	1. Where it all began

**Author's Note:**

> Brought to you from the Shameless Cult on discord, thanks for the idea Michelle

Everyone is born with powers whether they want them or not and some are worse than others. Take Ian Gallagher for example, unfortunately his powers match the color of his hair, he’s able to produce fire from all over his body. As a baby it used to flick up from his ginger hair and as he got older it started to slowly move to other parts of his body. Whenever Ian gets angry his hair lights up and his eyes go ablaze, he tries not to let it get to him when people tease him for his powers stemming from his ginger hair, but it just gets him more riled up.

Then you have the other side of the spectrum, with the dark powers, Mikhailo Milkovich is one of them. He’s able to manipulate shadows around him, drawing them in so that he can hide himself in the darkness or use them to attack someone. Growing up he mostly used his powers to hide himself from his father, always scared of getting beaten up again, he learned how to use his powers faster than most kids because they were a survival mechanism for him.

The first time Ian and Mickey ever came face to face with each other’s powers was during middle school. Ian was being bullied and pushed around so he decided to hide out in the janitor’s closet during lunch. The light was broken so he summoned a small ball of fire into the palm of his hand, little did he know but the Milkovich was using his powers to hide in the corner of the closet.

“You can use fire like that?” The voice startled Ian enough that the fire went out in his hand before he quickly regained his composure and summoned the small ball of light again to help him look around his hiding spot.

“Who said that? Where are you?” Ian’s eyes dart around as fast as they can to try and see if he missed something when he entered the closet, but he finds no one there and that just makes him worry.

“Sorry. I forgot you can’t see me when I’m using my powers.” A small boy emerges from the darkness of the closet, it takes Ian a moment to realise that it’s a Milkovich. He flinches back expecting to get hit but instead what results is a huff from his actions.

“Where did you come from?” Ian looks around trying to find where the smaller boy had come from but finds that there is no secret entrance.

“I can control the shadows around me, comes in pretty handy when I want to hide from people.” Ian didn’t notice this before but the Milkovich boy has a gruff voice and a hard edge to his tone.

“Why would a Milkovich need to hide from people?” Mickey thinks that the ginger fuck is asking a lot of questions he doesn’t deserve the answers to.

“None of your business why I need to hide from people.” Mickey spits it harshly and sees the tall ass ginger flinch and little flames shoot from his hair and flicker out as they fall to the floor.

“Sorry.” Ian practically whispers his apology and the flame in his hands dies down a little to a low burning glow instead of the bright flame it was before.

Mickey looks at him more closely as best as he can in the dim light, the ginger hair kind of glows a little bit but it’s not very bright in terms of anything else Mickey has seen him do with his powers. But overall the kid’s cute, Mickey doesn’t want to admit it, but he would love to make out with him. He silently chastises himself for that thought.

“Can you do anything else with your powers?” Mickey is curious as to see what he can do; he’s never met anyone that can control fire.

“Umm, not really I’m still trying to get them under control. I used to only be able to use them when I was angry, like my whole body would go on fire, it was scary the first time, but I got used to it over time.” Ian shifts from foot to foot as his eyes dart around the room trying not to look at the small Milkovich. Mickey notices the gingers anxiety but decides not to comment on it, he also notices that the more the tall redhead talks the brighter the flame gets, this kid really doesn’t have control over his powers, Mickey thinks to himself.

“Name’s Mickey Milkovich, what’s your name kid?” Ian sighs, Mickey is the same age as Lip, he knew one of the brothers was only slightly older than him and he’s glad that it’s Mickey. He’s heard too much bad shit about the others, his younger sister is in his class so Ian is quite familiar with the Milkovich’s and what they can do to you if you piss them off.

“I know. Um, Ian Gallagher.” Mickey can recognise discomfort from a mile off when it comes to people finding out that he’s a Milkovich, but he’s learned to live with the pain in his chest from the fear that his name brings.

“Gallagher? You one of Frank’s kids?” At Ian’s nod Mickey continues talking, “fucker still owes my dad money and I know for a fact he won’t hesitate to kill your dad for not paying up.” Mickey grunts out that last bit and draws some of the shadows towards him as sort of a protective field, he does this almost every time his dad is mentioned.

The bell rings signalling that the boys have to go to their next class and for a moment they just stare at each other not really knowing who is going to make the first move to leave the closet. Eventually, Mickey starts to move closer to the door, just before he opens it though he turns back around to Ian.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Gallagher.” And with that Mickey is out the door before Ian even gets a chance to reply to him.

That’s how their days at school went until Mickey left for high school, always meeting up in the janitor’s closet during lunch and just talking until the bell rang. Mickey taught Ian how to control his powers better and be able to use them for something other than a small flame in his palm or lighting him up like a Christmas tree when he’s angry.

They became so close to each other in such a short span of time that neither boy could really understand what they were eventually feeling towards the other. But one thing was for certain, it was the start of a new leaf for them and they were determined to make it last for a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading  
> Let me know what you think maybe I don't know
> 
> Follow me on twitter [lightninghaski](https://twitter.com/LightningHaski)


	2. Developing friendship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning 
> 
> Implied child abuse
> 
> No idea how many chapters this is going to have, but as soon as I've finished it I'm going to be moving onto another chaptered fic that I have a lot of ideas for

It was finally Ian’s first day of high school, he got to hang out with Mickey again. In the year he had left middle school he missed meeting up with Mickey in the janitor’s closet after the thug left. They had met up a few times outside of school as well, always at the dugouts by the baseball field.

“Ian! School, come on!” His older sister Fiona calls for him to come down. Most families had similar powers to each other but in the Gallagher house everyone was different. Fiona could project whatever sound she wanted, either louder or quieter, sounding like it was coming from a speaker that wasn’t there. She did this everything morning to get her siblings up, it was annoying but effective.

Lip, Ian’s older brother, is able to read minds and he uses that to his advantage when it comes to his schoolwork, he’s crazy smart as it is but if you add that to his powers and he’s even more intelligent. Debbie is able to control the water around her and she’s working on being able to draw the water out of someone’s body, pretty deadly in the way that it works but she doesn’t seem to care much.

Carl can control the blood flow in somebody’s system, make it alter course, which causes a painful death, he can make your blood boil with the flick of his wrist or make it turn to ice and freeze you from the inside out. The youngest Gallagher sibling, Liam, has the ability to see into the future by a few hours, they’re pretty sure he could get it to be years in the future but for right now at the age of 2 he’s only about to see a couple hours forward.

Ian comes barrelling down the stairs, grabs his lunch and he’s off to school, he’s just excited to see Mickey again, they haven’t seen each other in a few days and needless to say Ian has become attached for lack of a better word. He has so much to talk to him about, they also decided to meet up at the dugouts tonight, well more like Mickey demanded that Ian go there tonight without stating why even though they would be seeing each other in school.

Mickey was having a rough day and he hasn’t even gotten to school yet, his dad punched him as soon as he came out of his room, so now he has a swollen black eye and he just knows that Ian will ask questions. He doesn’t want the ginger to get mad, the one and only time he’s seen Ian mad is after he found out Terry was abusing him, Ian’s body lit up like someone had just dosed him in gasoline and threw a match at him.

Mickey admired every part of Ian then, his green eyes flecked with gold as flames burst out from his iris’ and the flicks of embers shooting from his hair while his skin turned ablaze. He was beautiful and Mickey couldn’t get that image out of his head, it was scorched into his memory for all of eternity, ironic right. Ian was the flaming sun and Mickey was the rising stars, as darkness cast shadows over the world at night.

Needless to say, Mickey was falling in love with Ian, but he didn’t want to say anything to the redheaded boy. No one could know that Mickey Milkovich was gay, not even his best friend, no matter how much he loves him. Mickey was terrified of his dad finding out, he didn’t want to put Ian into any danger if his dad found out that Mickey had a crush on him. He more specifically didn’t want his own father to kill him for being gay, it hurts to admit that his family won’t accept him for who he is.

Ian is heading into his first class when he spots a small dark headed boy and instantly knows who it is, he will always be able to spot his best friend from a mile away. Sadly, he doesn’t have time to go and talk to him before class actually starts so he’ll just have to wait until their lunch break.

Ian can feel his heart tighten whenever he thinks about Mickey, he’s known he has a crush on the other boy for at least a year, and it hurts to think that Mickey is straight. The times that they’ve talked about fucking people Mickey has always said about how tight girls are as soon as you slide in. Ian’s eyes become pained and filled with agony at the thought of Mickey fucking some southside slut instead of him.

Mickey can remember that day, he knows that shadows filled his eyes as he was talking. The darkness creeping towards his hands unconsciously, trying to protect himself from being found out. When he looked into the green eyes that adorned Ian’s face, he could see the beginnings of anger creep up on him, the usually bright green eyes sparked to life with golden ambers.

Mickey knew he fucked up telling Ian that but he’s trying to protect them both, he’ll do anything to protect Ian from being hurt. But for right now they’re both safe, being friends works for the both, even if they are desperately craving for something more with each other.

It was finally lunch break and Ian was excited to see and talk to Mickey after going most of the school day barely even seeing him. They had already decided on where they were going to meet up, so Ian quickly rushed outside to the bleachers. He spotted Mickey sitting down underneath the benches smoking a cigarette, flicking his free hand to move a shadow horse around him.

Ian paused before heading over to Mickey, he liked to admire the older boy’s ability to control his powers so well. Fiona hasn’t even got that much control over her powers and Mickey is at least 5 years younger than her. So, to see Mickey conjure the shadows towards him so easily like it’s nothing amazes Ian to no end.

“Hey Gallagher, you just gonna stand there and look at me all day or are you gonna come and actually talk to me?” Mickey has an easy smirk on his face, he’s been expressing himself a lot more since the first few times they hung out like this.

“Y’know Mick, I gotta say your little shadow horse doesn’t make you very intimidating.” Ian flexes his fingers and fire jumps from finger to finger before finally residing in his palm until Ian closes his hand into a fist, effectively putting the flame out. He sauntered over to where Mickey is and sits down before taking the cigarette off him.

“You’re getting good at that, using your powers on commanding that is. I don’t appreciate you stealing my cig though man. And for the record my ‘little shadow horse’ could kick your ass.” Mickey roughly takes the cigarette back and puts it between his lips before flipping Ian off.

This is the first time in weeks Mickey has properly been able to relax, he was scared about seeing Ian at school again after 2 years, but he can’t deny how much he’s missed being able to see the freckled ginger every day. He can practically feel the excitement radiate off of Ian as well, the ginger wears his emotions so openly it’s a wonder the kid’s still alive, what with living on the southside and all.

“You got any plans for today Mick, besides insulting me and telling me that your shadows can do damage to me?” Mickey scoffs at Ian’s remark and refuses to look him in the eye, they both know that Mickey would never use his powers against Ian in any way harmful.

“Nah man, I’ll probably just go home and play some games whilst pissing off Mandy. Dad’s back in prison for right now so I’m free to do whatever I want.” Mickey conjures up another shadow animal this time a lion. Ian’s eyes go alight with wonder and admiration for the spectacle of power. 

“I wish Frank could get his ass thrown into jail for longer than a few days, would do us a world of good y’know. But I was wondering if you maybe wanted to hang out tonight. You can come by my place and we can just chill and get high.” Ian had plans and he wanted to go through with them tonight. 

“Sure whatever, not like I wanna spend my night with my brothers and sister anyway. Those assholes have been pissing me off a lot lately.” Mickey takes a final drag of his cigarette before tossing it away, the lion still dancing effortlessly around them, joined now by a poor excuse of a flaming cat. 

Ian has been trying to do some of the things that Mickey can do with his powers, unfortunately it’s not going too well, Mickey has been doing this for years and Ian a mere few months. He wants to have flawless control over his powers and to do that he needs to get in as much practise as possible. 

“You’re getting better at that, keep practising and your cat will be fully fleshed out. Look at pictures of cats as well so that you know how they move, helps improve your visual bank for when you want to use your powers to conjure things.” Mickey is smiling softly as he watches Ian concentrate hard on keeping up the appearance of the conjured cat. His attention is snagged away from him and the cat flickers out into ashes, falling around them.

“Do you ever think we can make it out of the southside?” Ian is staring at his hands refusing to look Mickey in the eye.

“Where’s this coming from Gallagher? I know the southside sucks, but this is home y’know.” Mickey is scanning Ian’s face trying to analyse the redheads' emotions. “Yeah, I wanna get out the southside. I wanna be free from the clutches that my dad holds over me.” Mickey’s voice is unusually soft as he speaks and Ian can hear the pain and emotion behind it, it almost sounds wet with tears. 

“Mick, I promise that I will get you out of this shitty area and give you a good life away from your dad and the southside.” Ian’s eyes are filled with determination as he finally looks back up at Mickey. 

“Don’t go getting all soft of me now, Ian.” But Mickey knows that Ian means it, he has almost meant every word and unspoken protection when it comes to Mickey’s safety. Mickey doesn’t need to hear the words anymore to know that Ian is always thinking about it.

And maybe that’s why he loves him so much. Loves how the words flow so easily from his mouth, the way that Ian’s eyes are dazzled with an ignited desire whenever he utters star dust into the open air around them only for Mickey to absorb and cradle delicately with his penumbra. 

Ian doesn’t see it, but Mickey does, the spectacle that is Ian Gallagher, the burning matter shooting up into the universe and boring down all the light that he radiates. He is a guiding light for Mickey in the darkness that he’s become so accustomed to over the years. A compass to guide Mickey through the disasters that he has to face every day in order to survive in his threadbare existence. 

Ian can see the bewilderment from Mickey whenever his powers dance on the planes in front of them, whispering unspoken beauty from blood red lips that look so kissable. Ice blue eyes enchanted by the deep oranges of Ian’s fire, captivated by years of trauma that both boys have experienced in their lives. Only to come together and share such an intimate part of themselves with each other. 

Vulnerability is a precious thing to admit in the southside, but they would gladly do it for each other. No matter how much they wish they could put the brakes on it and say no, they are drawn to each other, neither knows why this spark is a constant crackle between them. All they do know is that if they get any closer that spark will ignite to a power outage, it will cause the whole of the southside to go pitch black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading  
> Let me know what you think of this chapter
> 
> Follow me on twitter [lightninghaski](https://twitter.com/LightningHaski)


	3. Minor injuries and contusions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to spice this chapter up with some heavy angst  
> In my au Kash doesn't exist because I hate that fucker 
> 
> tw  
> minor self harm  
> child abuse

Mickey dropped out of high school near the end of his junior year after he continuously failed his exams, he’s smart that’s for sure, but he’s more street smart than he is school smart. Ian is the complete opposite to that, he does better in school than out of the streets. They both learnt that first hand. 

They’ve decided to meet up at the baseball dugouts after Ian got off work, it’s the summer so there isn’t much to do but work and hangout when Ian is free. Mickey has been playing games the whole time just waiting, until his dad is stumbling into the house drunk and coked out his ass.

“What are you looking at you piece of shit?” Mickey’s eyes dart away from his dad’s like a lightning bolt, out of the corner of his eye he can see a black trail coming straight towards him. He tries to get out of the way, but he’s too slow and the black mast slams against his face full force. 

His face feels wet and when he brings his hand up to touch it he sees dark red blood adorning his fingertips. He knows by the amount of blood that is on his hand that the cut is deep, probably in need of stitches deep. This isn’t the first time his sperm donor has used his powers to hurt Mickey and it certainly won’t be the last. 

“You son of a bitch, I never asked for you to be born.” This time a glass bottle is thrown at his face, it shatters on impact and Mickey just knows that there is glass in his already open wound. He can’t really see out of his right eye now and he’s not sure if it’s due to all the blood dripping down his face or if he’s going blind from the assault. 

“Get the fuck out of my house before I fucking kill you.” Mickey is up and grabbing his coat and shoes before the words even fully register in his brain. He needs to get to Ian as fast as he can, that’s all he can think about. Ian, Ian, Ian. A constant loop in his head. He draws the shadows towards him so that no one can see just how beaten and bruised he is. 

By the time he gets to the Kash ‘n’ Grab the vision in his right eye is almost completely gone, looks like he is losing his eyesight then. He pulls the door open forgetting that he is still hidden in the shadows when a bolt of fire comes flying towards him.

“Jesus Christ Ian, watch what you’re fucking doing.” Thankfully the fire narrowly misses his already injured head.

“Mick? What the fuck are you doing hiding like that when you come into the store? I’ve told you so many times not to do that shit-” Ian’s voice trails off when Mickey finally reveals himself to his tall, red headed best friend. “Fuck Mick, did your dad do that to you?” Mickey doesn’t even need to look at Ian’s face to know that his green eyes are a burnt amber as they glow with iridescent flames. 

“It’s nothing okay. Not like it’s the first time it’s happened.” His voice is quite at the end but Ian still picks up on what he said. Mickey feels Ian’s hand wrap around his wrist and suddenly he’s being pulled forward, Ian pulls him into the back room where the first aid kit is kept. He’s only ever used it on Mickey, which is probably the worst thought in the world.

“I need you to look at me Mick, gotta check if you have a concussion.” Ian’s voice is smooth and gentle, like he’s talking to a frightened animal and maybe he is. Mickey draws his eyes up to Ian’s and he can still see the gold flecks sprinkled in the gingers eyes, but at least the fire has gone out. 

“It’s not that bad Ian trust me.” Mickey tries to plead but as soon as the peroxide is dabbed onto the cut to clean it, he’s biting his lip to stop himself from letting out a whimper and showing Ian just how much of a coward he is. 

“I know you like to think that it’s not that bad, but Mickey, can you see how many fingers I’m holding up when you close your left eye?” Mickey does what Ian says and sure enough he can’t see how many fingers Ian is holding up for him. In fact he can’t see anything at all, it’s absolute darkness. He’s used to the dark but this is terrifying.

“Ian,” Mickey’s breath halts for a second, words failing him. “I can’t see.” His voice is so quiet he’s sure he even said anything at all. 

“Shit Mickey.” Ian is pulling Mickey towards his chest, his head thumping against Ian’s shoulder. He inhales the scent of ashes and burnt wood from Ian’s skin, taking solace in the safe space between Ian’s neck and shoulder. 

“Ian I can’t see, why can’t I see?” The panic is starting to build in Mickey’s throat, tears stinging his one good eye. 

“Hey it’s okay, I’ve got you, everything is gonna be okay.” Mickey opens his left eye and looks up at Ian.

“You promise?” Mickey’s voice shakes with emotion.

“Of course I promise. I said I’d protect you didn’t I?” Mickey nods, Ian has said that so many times due to Terry beating the shit out of him but this might be the worst time yet. If he doesn't regain his eyesight back in his right eye, he might actually have a mental breakdown. 

Mickey can see a fire cat jump up onto his shoulder out the corner of his eye, Ian was a fast learner when Mickey was teaching him how to control his powers. She's been named Nyma by Ian and she goes perfectly with Mickey’s shadow lion Sigma, who was also named by Ian after finding out that Mickey hadn’t named a single one of his conjured shadow pets. 

Nyma had the ability to calm Mickey down, her fire engulfing Mickey’s emotions that he didn’t want to escape. She was a safety blanket for him and Ian knew that perfectly. 

“You feeling better now Mick?” Mickey nods hesitantly as he holds his arm out for Nyma to walk down and effectively hope into Ian’s body to be hidden away again.  
“Yeah, Nyma really does wonders for me.” Mickey gives Ian a tentative smile before he’s bringing his hand up to his face again. The blood has dried now but he still can’t see anything, he resigns his thoughts to never being able to see out of his right eye again. 

“I need to stitch up the cut on your face, will you let me.” Mickey knows it’s not a question but he nods anyway, they’ve done this so many times for each other. Contrary to popular belief Ian is abused in his own way by his so called father, not to the extent that Mickey is. But he would never disregard Ian’s trauma and pain as being less significant just because it isn’t as bad as his own.

“How did you even learn how to do this? Doesn’t seem like a common skill to just pick up on doing and I know for a fact that your siblings have never had injuries that warrant this type of treatment.” Ian’s body tenses and his hands freeze where they are against Mickey’s face.

“I used to have to do it to myself. I was pretty messed up for a while when I was younger. Ruined my body more times than I can count, so it was trial and error for a while before I got the hang of it.” Mickey is confused as to what Ian means by that. 

‘Did you hurt yourself?’ He thinks but doesn’t say allowed.

“Mhm yeah I did Mick.” Mickey’s eyes snap towards Ian’s, did he really say that out loud. “It started with burning myself and I got a taste for it but then I don’t know I kinda started to find other ways to do it. I guess it spiralled out of control because I needed to stitch myself up multiple times after that. By the time I met you though I had already stopped doing it and most of my scars have healed.” Ian speaks quickly like he wants to get the secret out as fast as possible.

-

_Ian can perfectly remember the day that Lip found out he was hurting himself. It was a hot day in summer and Ian had just got done using his powers to burn holes into his leg. He didn’t think it was possible to use your own powers to hurt yourself, but if Ian concentrates hard enough he can focus his powers to harm himself._

_“Hey Ian, come on man you’re missing the party.” Lip comes storming into their shared bedroom before Ian even has the chance to pull his pants back up._

_Lip stops dead in his tracks staring at his younger brother's thighs, he contemplates on saying something but when he hears Fiona call their names up the stairs he decides to save it for later._

_“Come on we’re missing the party.” Lip is back out the room in a few seconds and Ian is yanking his pants back on with mortification written all over his face. He can’t believe he got caught, he never wanted anyone to find out and this dark secret he’s been hiding so well for so many years._

_He heads out to the backyard where the party is being held and actively tries to avoid his brother as best as he can, for as long as he can. Ian knows that he’s going to get questioned later after all the guests have left so he’s going to do everything in his power now to not have to face the looks of ridicule from Lip._

_It’s just after midnight when the last of the guests have left the party and Ian can finally escape back to his room, unfortunately his room is also Lip’s, he knows it’s going to come as soon as Lip enters their room. So he tries to pretend to be asleep so that he can possibly escape it._

_He feels his bed dip not realising he wasn't alone anymore, turning around from facing the wall to look at whoever it was, he already knew it was going to be Lip but he just wanted to check and make sure._

_“You gonna tell me what that was about or am I gonna have to guess?” Lip stares at Ian intently and Ian flicks his eyes away from him to look at the ceiling instead._

_“I started doing it when Mom left a few years ago, she got inside my head and it made me realise that I’m never going to find someone that will ever love me for who I am and I guess it just got to me a little.” Ian looks ashamed as he says it out loud, he never really thought about the reason why he started doing it. He didn’t even know there was a reason why he was doing it, but as soon as Lip asked he just started talking._

_Saying things he hasn’t thought about in years, he always had the best connection to Monica than the rest of them did and he never understood why she paid more attention to him than she did the rest of her kids._

_When he found out that he wasn’t Frank’s he was happy but that meant that he was still Monica’s and while he hates his Mom for abandoning them so many times, he never really stopped to think that she’s only ever shown affection towards him. Only ever cared about Ian, more for Ian than she ever even did for Frank._

_“So you started destroying your body because Monica made you feel like shit?” Lip waits for Ian to reply and when he only gets a nod of confirmation he continues speaking. “You don’t need to do that okay. I know you may feel like no one will love you for you, but I can guarantee that someone out there will love you unconditionally, I’m sure of it.” Lip gives him a soft smile and pats his leg before standing up and heading to his bed, Carl walking in a few seconds later._

-

Back in the present Ian looks into Mickey’s eyes to gage his reaction before continuing his story on how it all went down to begin with, how Lip found out and the fact that Lip helped him keep his secret from Fiona. To this day she still doesn’t know that he ever harmed himself in any way, he suspects that Carl knows but only because he walked into the room as soon as Lip and Ian got finished talking.

“Why did you never tell me? I wouldn’t have judged you for it.” Mickey has a hurt look on his face and Ian actually feels somewhat guilty for not telling him this before.

“It wasn’t that I don’t trust you Mick, it was more I didn’t know how you were going to react when I did tell you. Now I know that I should have told you sooner because I know you just want to protect me and much as I want to protect you.” He smiles softly at Mickey, brushing some of the black strands out of his face so he can place a bandage over the freshly stitched wound.

“I know that Ian but it hurts that you didn’t tell me and I know you must have been scared to tell me, I understand that. I was scared for you to find out about my dad, turns out you just turned extremely protective of me.” He chuckles to try and hide his nervousness, he hates openly saying that his dad abuses him, he hates being weak. 

“Out of everything that has ever happened to the two of us combined that’s always gonna be something that we will always think about.” Mickey scoffs. “No just listen to me okay, we have both been through so much shit and we’ve learned how to express things differently. For me it was hurting myself and for you it was turning to aggression to deal with your problems. And that’s okay, there’s nothing wrong with that. We’ve been surviving our entire lives and we’ll keep on surviving until our piece of shit parents die and we can truly be free from their grasp that they hold on us.” They both want their parents dead, they’ve talked about it many times but they don’t know what they would actually do if they did die. 

“You’ll get me out of the southside right? You promised that you would, I’m holding you to that promise until you actually make it true.” Ian pats Mickey’s left cheek before standing up and holding his hand out to help him up.

“I always keep my promises, you know that.” And he did, Mickey knew that all too well and he will never forget it. 

Ian’s smile is blinding when Mickey looks up at him, and for a split second he can see a golden sheen flick across Ian’s eyes and then it’s gone again. Little does he know but Ian can also see a deep ocean blue sheen flash through Mickey’s left eye and a cold ice blue in his right. 

It’s the start on a connection they can never escape from no matter how hard they try and outrun it. They thought the bond they already had was irrevocable but this is something else, something they are completely unable to get away from. Their souls are bound to each other until the day that they die, and living in the southside isn’t leaving them a whole lot of time to figure that out.

“You wanna stay at mine tonight? We can sleep in the van since I know you hate being around my brothers.” Ian’s offer falls on deaf ears as Mickey replays the events of his father beating him for absolutely no reason.

“Mick, you with me? Come on Mick, come back to me.” Ian places his right hand on Mickey’s cheek and his left on his shoulder, shaking him from his stupor. 

“Sorry, what did you say?” Mickey’s eyes are unfocused and Ian knows that he won’t be able to fully shake him from the flashbacks. He summons Nyma to comfort Mickey, already knowing what he needs to fully get him out of the memories and torture he is enduring. 

“You’re coming home with me, let’s go.” Ian is pulling Mickey out of the backroom in the store after grabbing his coat.

“Ian? What? You still have to work, we can’t leave.” Mickey is tugging on his arm to try and release it from Ian’s grasp.

“It’s quiet anyway I can lock up early. I need to get you somewhere safe Mickey.” Mickey knows that there’s no fighting Ian when he’s in protective mode, so he resigns himself to being dragged along. 

Just before they make it outside Ian flips the hood of Mickey’s coat up so that it’s covering his face and then grabs his arm again to lead him out of the store. After Ian has locked up they make it back to the Gallagher house in record time, Ian still pulling Mickey along behind him. 

“Ian? Thought you were supposed to be at work.” Carl says and Ian starts pulling Mickey up the stairs.

“Something came up, don't worry about it.” As soon as they get up the stairs he takes Mickey into his room and gets him to sit down on his bed while he goes and finds Fiona to tell her that Mickey will be staying for a few days. 

She’s never liked any of the Milkoviches but she knows that Mickey is his best friend and that he’d do anything for him, so she tolerates him as best as she can. When Ian returns to his room he sees Mickey lying on his side facing the door but his eyes aren’t focused on the doorway. 

Ian walks over to his bed and kneels down next to it, he brings his hand up to stroke some of Mickey’s hair from his forehead before resting his hand against his cheek. Mickey instinctively closes his eyes at the soft and relaxing gesture. Ian decides to do something he’s never done to Mickey before, he leans over and kisses Mickey on the forehead, right between his eyebrows. 

When he pulls back Mickey scrunches up his brows and opens his eyes again, focusing right onto Ian’s. And in that moment they feel the magnetised Earth pulling them together, neither know which one leans in first but all of a sudden their lips are touching and it feels like a 1000 fireworks are going off around them.

Turns out those fireworks are their powers losing control, shadows intersecting with fire. The black enveloping tendrils melding together with the orange scintillate flames, the kiss so soft but filled with so much tantalising emotion that flows up and out of the two boys like flooding waves of volcanic ashes. 

Today marks the day that Ian Gallagher and Mickey Milkovich intertwined themselves with each other to the point that they were irrevocably tethered to one another, and it would only be a matter of time before they found out how inseparable they were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading  
> Let me know what you think of this chapter in the comments
> 
> Follow me on twitter [lightninghaski](https://twitter.com/LightningHaski)


	4. Promises and heartbreaks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw  
> child abuse
> 
> Big shout out to LJ for helping with Mickey's child abuse

It’s a few weeks after Ian brought Mickey home before he actually opens up and tells Ian about the childhood abuse he’s suffered through. He starts with his earliest memory making snow angels with his sister when he was 4 years old, because Terry said that only pussy fags and girls make snow angels Mickey has since then started to despise the snow. He’ll do anything in his power to avoid needing to go out, which explains why Ian never saw him at school before he dropped out during winter and there was snow on the ground. 

He mentions how he’s only good at math because he was forced into helping his dad with the family drug business, counting stacks and bills just to get by. Ian gasps at that because Mickey has been good at math since he was a young kid, knowing that that’s how he got good at the subject hurts Ian’s heart. As a result of his fucked up childhood Mickey forced his child self to gain control of his powers, whereas it normally takes a lifetime to do that Mickey accomplished it in 3 years.

Ian has never considered what someone else's life could be like after his own life had been so shitty. But listening to Mickey talk about the abusive and neglectful environment he was brought up in brings tears to his eyes. He’s always tried to do right by Mickey because it’s what he deserves and to hear that the other boys own father treated him like a pack mule makes Ian furious. 

His body sparking to life with reignited flames of fury, he’s never been this alight with this much contempt before and when he darts his eyes over to Mickey he can see his reflection blazing in Mickey’s eyes. Mickey looking upon him like he’s just seen the most beautiful thing in the world and in Mickey’s own mind Ian really is. He’s never had someone get mad for him, only at him, it’s like a whole new revelation and he’s taking Ian’s fire and absorbing it for himself. 

“This isn’t okay Mickey, I will tear that fucker apart and burn all of the pieces for what he’s put you through. You didn’t deserve any of that shit that you had to deal with. I’ll kill him just fucking watch me.” Ian’s little speech snaps Mickey out of his dazed admiration, that he’s not sure how long he was in. 

“Ian calm down it’s okay, look here’s Sigma can you bring out Nyma so that they can play together while we have a talk.” They’ve been letting their respective familiars play with each other while they either talk or bask in the other’s presence, it’s been going well so far Nyma has really taken to Sigma which Mickey honestly never thought would happen since the two are complete opposites in terms of matter.

But then again Mickey thinks about how Ian is the sun, flecked with his enigmatic flames at all hours of the day. Mickey is the shadows at night, always stalking around and waiting to catch its prey and drag it into its dark lair of inhabitance. They are polar opposites and yet they are so zealously drawn to each other without explanation. 

Ian reluctantly agrees and brings Nyma out, making Mickey sigh in relief, he’s still trying to get a hold of using his powers for conjuring so it takes a lot out of him, meaning his burning body has been reduced to flickering flames in his hair and golden eyes. Ian thinks about how Sigma and Nyma playing together always calms him down and then thinks how he used Nyma to help Mickey snap out of his memories a few weeks back at the store. There’s just something about the both of them that he can’t quite put his finger on yet, maybe he never will.

“Hey look, see I knew Nyma and Sigma would calm you down. Ian, I need you to listen to me carefully. You are not killing my dad,” Ian goes to protest but Mickey holds his hand up to silence him. “No Ian, I’m serious. You’re not killing him, I can’t lose you and if you kill him I don’t know if I’ll ever get to see you again.” Ian can see the sheer amount of emotion hidden behind Mickey’s ice blue eyes, he knows the feeling of not wanting to lose what’s precious to him.

Mickey can see Ian judging him through his unbandaged eye, Mickey has always been the most expressive through his eyes and he hates that he lets his emotions seep through the cracks hidden within the encompassing glare that he holds in his day to day life. But with Ian he can let those cracks open just a little bit more than usual, he will never show this side of himself to anyone other than Ian and he has no idea why. 

“Ian I have to tell you something about what my dad did to me as a kid. It’s probably worse than what I’ve already told you as is.” He sighs and closes his eye, “he locked me in a closet for 3 days with no food or water and when he let me out he made me fight Iggy. I lost obviously because I was so weak and after that he pistol whipped me and threw me back into the closet for another 3 days. Those last 3 days weren’t as bad because Mandy snuck some bread in when Terry was at the Alibi or out on a run, but she never let me out to go to the toilet. I was a mess Ian, I cried a few times when it first started happening. I think I might have been 4 the first time but I don’t really remember all that well, I’ve tried to block out most of my childhood because of the things that have happened to me.” When Mickey has stopped talking he opens his eye and looks at Ian again, his face is tear stained. Dripping from his chin and onto his jeans, he was crying silently from listening to Mickey’s story. 

It made him want to kill Terry even more than he already did but he restrained himself for Mickey, he hates himself for being afraid of Mickey until they had met in the janitors closet as kids. 

“Why were you hiding in the janitors closet when we met?” He doesn’t mean to blurt it out in such a harsh set of words, but they are out in the atmosphere now and he can’t take it back. 

“I think it was subconscious, I spent a lot of time in the closet at home. I never felt safe in that house but when i was in the closet it was safe because Terry just forgot about me. That’s where I learnt how to control my powers because of how much free time I had on my hands when I was trapped in there. So, I spent a lot of time in there too when I was at school because I didn’t like how other people would look at me.” Ian is shocked that he got a straight answer from Mickey, he never expected it, always thought that the other boy would keep it a secret until the day he died.

“Since we’re sharing why we were hiding in the closet what’s your story on that matter.” Mickey looks at Ian hopefully, waiting for him to share his side of the story on how they inevitably met all those years ago.

“I was hiding from someone that wanted to beat the shit out of me for being gay, turns out when the dude got to high school he got caught with a guys dick in his mouth. So, I’m pretty sure he just wanted to fuck me but I wasn’t taking any chances.” Ian gives Mickey a blinded smile not realising that he has completely calmed down from his explosion earlier. 

“I see and who was this fucker that tried to beat the shit out of you or fuck you?” That made Ian laugh and soon Mickey joined him, little did he know but Mickey was being deadly serious he wanted to know who was after Ian back in the day. He stops and thinks that maybe it isn’t that important right now since Mickey has Ian all to himself. 

“Just so you know I’m not actually gonna tell you because you’ll probably kill him and I’m also sure he’s dropped out of school anyway. Here we need to change your bandage, I can see blood starting to seep through again.” Mickey agrees and tilts his head forward slightly so that Ian can have better access to the bandage tied at the back of his head. 

“You ever think about become a doctor or something, I know you said you wanted to be an officer in the army but you’re really good at looking after people I think you could work in a hospital pretty easily.” Mickey has always wondered this, why would Ian want to go off and die for his country when he could be here helping people that get hurt whilst dying for their country. 

“Hmmm I’m not sure sometimes I think about being an EMT, I like being out in the field and you don’t need to go to med school for it. You just have to do some training, then take a written and a practical exam. I think I could do it but it’s always been a dream of mine to be an officer at West Point. Honestly, I’m not sure what I want to do anymore, I don’t want to leave you and joining the army will end up pulling me away from you. If I’m here in Chicago being an EMT then I never need to leave you again.” It’s a hard decision for Ian to make and Mickey wishes he never even brought the subject up.

“I’m sorry I said anything on the matter, seems like it’s been on your mind for a while.” Ian hums again as he starts cleaning Mickey’s wound before he bandages it back up after putting some salve on it to help it heal better. 

“It’s fine Mick, I’m actually glad you’re interested in my life. Makes me think you actually care.” Ian pushes him by the shoulder and then starts laughing as he gets up and runs out of the room. Mickey quick on his heals to catch up to him.

“You asshole I do care about your life.” Mickey jumps onto his back and tackles him to the ground in between the kitchen and living room. “You mean everything to me, why wouldn’t I care?” Mickey can feel his face start to heat up at saying the words out loud, he’s glad that Ian is facing the ground as he sits on his back. 

Ian struggles to turn around onto his back under Mickey’s weight but he eventually manages it. He reaches a hand up to touch his cheek lightly, Mickey nuzzling his face into Ian’s palm. They stare at each other for a few seconds or maybe minutes, neither of them are sure before Ian is pulling Mickey’s face down towards him and connecting their lips in a slow and peaceful kiss. 

For Mickey, Ian radiates tranquillity and for Ian, Mickey divaricates serenity. Both content to bask in the others presence for how ever long they need to immerse themselves in their vigorous energy, that has been drawing them together since their first meeting all that time ago in the janitors closet.

“Kissing you will never get old.” There is a faint blush on Ian’s cheeks as he whispers the words into the emptiness between their mouths. 

“Shut up and keep kissing me then.” Mickey places his lips squarely over Ian’s again, drawing him in, their tongues tangling as Mickey opens his mouth to Ian’s prodding tongue at his lips. 

This is it for them, this is where they are meant to be. Tongue tied together on the first floor in the Gallagher house. 

Mickey grinds his hips down into Ian’s, making a high whine slip from his throat and into Ian’s mouth, swallowing it down. Ian grabs a hold of Mickey’s hips and pushes him further down into his crotch, grinding up against Mickey every time. 

“Fuck fuck, shit Mickey-” Ian is cut off by a moan slipping from his lips as Mickey attaches his mouth onto the side of Ian’s neck biting down and sucking harsh purple marks there. Claiming him from other people, telling them to back off and that this man is mine. 

“Mmm Ian am gonna cum.” Mickey’s words a slurred, he’s never experienced this much pleasure from getting off before and he can’t understand why it feels so good to be doing it with Ian right now.

“Do it, I’m gonna cum too.” Ian pulls Mickey’s head back up by his hair so that he can slot their lips together again. The kiss seems to make them go over the edge cumming in their pants like prepubescent boys.

Mickey slumps down completely onto Ian’s chest and for a split second he’s thankful that it’s just them in the house. Neither of them seem to notice the burn marks on the floor by Ian’s body or the shadows going insane on the ceiling in the living room. 

“That was… wow, can we do that again sometime.” It’s less of a question and more of a statement that they will be doing it again sometime soon. Ian runs his fingers through Mickey’s hair after he’s done speaking and Mickey hums and it almost sounds like he’s purring like a cat as he nuzzles his head further into Ian’s warm chest, listening to his heartbeat.

“If we don’t I think I’ll need to kill you.” Mickey didn’t need to reply but he felt obligated to for some reason. Ian chuckles because it sounds like Mickey is 2 seconds away from sleep, if he’s being honest he could also do with a nap. So, he gentle moves Mickey so that he’s sitting his lap and then stands up carrying him back to his bedroom. 

Laying them both down on the bed and curling up together falling asleep promptly. Fiona coming back home from work 20 minutes into their nap and seeing the scorch marks on the wooden floor and the shadows flying around on the ceiling and walls, almost like they are trying to get to the person that caused them to act up but having no way of getting to him. 

She’s concerned that the boys got into a fight when they were left alone, making their powers go out of control but when she accessed the stairs and into the 3 boys shared bedroom she sees them both curled up together. Ian with a protective arm across Mickey’s waist and Mickey clutching Ian’s hand for dear life, almost like it’s a comfort item. 

Fiona ideally wonders about the connection between the two of them, she hasn’t seen something like this in a long time. Her memories suppling her with age old conversations with her mom about soul bonding between two people that are completely tied to each other in every way. 

She slips back out of the room silently and smiles to herself, thankful that her brother has found someone with which his soul is now bonded too. Hoping that these boys can be happy together because god knows they’ve never had real happiness before in their lives. Breaking a soul bond can completely tear you apart because you’re missing the other half of yourself, she desperately hopes this won’t happen to them, she cares for them to much see them slip away into nothingness.

Mickey twitches in his sleep feeling like he’s missing something, when he turns over and breaths in Ian’s scent he finally settles down realising that’s what he was missing, bearing his face into the crook of Ian’s next and drifting off again into a peaceful slumber. 

Both of them unaware of the bonding of their souls for yet another day, but they’ll soon find out what is really happening to them in due time. Ian and Mickey’s journey is really only just beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this chapter  
> Let me know what you think of it in the comments 
> 
> Follow me on twitter [lightninghaski](https://twitter.com/LightningHaski)


	5. Time spent alone together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw  
> mentions of past child abuse 
> 
> contains the reasoning that this fic is a thing  
> and thanks to [michelle](/users/statichearts/) for the whole reason this fic even exists

It’s been a couple of months since the ‘incident’ with Mickey going blind in one eye, he refuses to acknowledge it even though Ian always gives him a concerned look when he walks into a wall or chair that he can’t quite see with his left eye. It’s a right pain in the ass but he’s learning how to deal with it, he hates his dad for doing this to him but there’s nothing he can do about it unless he wants his dad to kill him for even thinking about standing up to him and his power.

Things with Ian have been progressing though and since the ‘incident’ as they have started referring to it as Mickey has been staying at the Gallaghers because Fiona refuses to let him go back home. He knows that eventually his dad will come looking for him but for now he is just going to bask in the safety that comes with living in the Gallagher home. 

Mickey will sometimes look at the door whenever he hears a sound coming from outside thinking that Terry has come to drag him back home. Ian has noticed this and the way that the shadows in the room start to flicker whenever Mickey gets a surge of fear coursing through his body at the slightest sound. 

He would never admit it to anyone but he’s terrified of being alone, Ian can pick up on his fear without him outright saying it. Whenever Ian needs to go to work he always makes Mickey follow him whilst he’s cloaked in shadows so that everyone will see Ian walking alone, meaning Terry doesn’t know that Mickey is with Ian if he were to encounter him on his way to work. 

It is on one such day that there’s a loud crash from outside the front steps and it has Mickey shooting up into a defensive position and the shadows all around the room rush to curl themselves around his body as protection. Ian is gentle in his approach as to not spook him any further.

“Hey Mick everything’s okay, we're alone your dad isn’t coming to get you. If it makes you feel any better he’s probably thinking you died in a ditch or something.” It doesn’t make him feel any better but Ian is trying to calm him down and that’s all that matters. “If anything it’s likely to be Frank passing out just before he can make it up the steps again.” 

The shadows whip around Mickey frantically, he hates Frank with a burning passion. He’s the reason Ian has met up with him multiple times covered in bruises and blood, he always plays it off as himself and Lip getting into a fight but Mickey knows the signs of abuse like the back of his hand. His whole body is riddled with the signs for that matter, so there’s nothing that will slip past his gaze when it comes to markings on Ian’s delicate freckled skin. 

Ian will do anything to show Mickey that he has it handled, despite himself Ian will stand up to Frank when Mickey is there knowing that his punishment later will be brutal. Probably resulting in him having a swollen face for a few days. 

“We should go somewhere today?” Mickey turns to Ian with an alarmed look on his face, in the time that Mickey has been staying at the Gallagher house he hasn’t once asked Mickey to leave for anything other than going to the Kash ‘n’ Grab together.

“But what if my dad finds me?” Ian gives him a blinding smile before pulling on his hand to get him to stand up.

“Don’t worry about that, I have it covered. Plus while we walk there you can be concealed in shadows. I don’t mind what you do to keep yourself safe Mick.” Mickey looks hesitant and Ian can tell and feel the emotions rushing through Mickey by making this decision. But all of a sudden Mickey’s face shifts and he gives Ian a slight upturn of his lips before grabbing his jacket off the back of the sofa. 

“Where are we going anyway?” Mickey doesn’t ask until they get out the house and he’s drawn the shadows towards him.

“You’ll see when we get there.” Mickey can hear the smirk in Ian's voice but can’t see it because he’s too busy looking at the floor to avoid Frank’s frailed out limps so as to not trip down the stairs. 

They walk for a few blocks mindlessly chatting about whatever comes to mind when they stop in front of the fence that lines the baseball field. They haven’t been here since the beginning of summer, mostly because Ian’s been working too much so that he can add more money to the squirrel fund. But also because of Mickey hiding from his dad in the past few weeks. 

“You could have said that we were going to the dugouts, I would have packed some beer.” When Ian turns to look at Mickey he first notices that Mickey is cloaked in his shadows and then he sees a dejected look but also a sense of thrill in his eyes. 

“Sorry man, didn’t think to bring a bag with me.” Ian pushes Mickey slightly before climbing up and over the fence, Mickey following him closely behind. 

“What are we gonna do here anyway?” When they reach the inside of the dugouts Ian turns and grabs onto Mickey’s arm gently before pushing him against the fencing and attacking his mouth with his own lips. 

Mickey moans into Ian’s mouth leaving him vulnerable to a tongue sliding in a dancing methodically with his own. They’ve kissed like this a few times but each time sends fireworks shooting from his stomach to his heart. 

Mickey remembers the day they first made out like this and the disgusting dry humping and mess in their pants that followed, it’s got to be a week since that happened. 

Ian releases his hold on Mickey’s arm to loop one of his around Mickey’s waist and the other goes towards the front of his pants to slowly unbutton them. He’s doing it slowly to give Mickey time to back away and call it off if he doesn’t want it but instead with Mickey's newly freed arm he raps it around Ian’s neck to pull him in closer and takes his other arm to undo Ian’s pants. 

They both seem to put their hands down the other’s pants at the exact same time because Mickey moans when Ian growls, it’s an animalistic growl, something he’s never heard a human make before.

Ian moves his hand across Mickey’s dick in such a sensual way that it feels like he’s dreaming it happening because who can jerk a guy off that good at such a weird angle. He has to pull his lips away from Ian’s so that he can breathe and when he does he looks at Ian and notices that his hair is ablaze with iridescent flames. 

When Ian opens his eyes to look at Mickey, he sees frantic shadows dancing to the sound of their breathing. Mickey notices something about Ian’s eyes, the green is gone and instead it’s replaced by this vibrant gold color that is just so striking, it has Mickey in a trance. 

Mickey starts to move his hand but it’s nowhere near as smooth as Ian’s own movements and he feels embarrassed by it but he isn’t going to stop because he can see the visible pleasure that it is traversing through Ian’s body when he shudders. 

Mickey feels something spark against his hand and he draws away so quickly that he feels his wrist click as it pulls out of Ian’s pants.

“What? Mickey why’d you do that?” Ian pulls his hand out of Mickey pants as well so he can step back and take a look at him. 

“Something hit me, it kinda hurt a little.” He lifts his hand up and sees that the hairs have been singed. 

“Holy shit.” Mickey looks back towards Ian so see him pulling his pants away and looking inside to see that there’s a tiny fire where his pubes would be. “How the fuck did that happen?” Ian actually seems shocked, not like his whole head or hair is made out of fire right now, Mickey just starts laughing at him.

“You know your hair is literally fire right now and your eyes are gold and not green.” Mickey really can’t contain his laughter in the slightest.

“Why did my powers act up like this and yours just didn’t do anything but draw the shadows towards you and make them flicker, this isn’t fair.” Ian is pouting which only makes Mickey laugh more.

“Maybe because I actually have full control over my powers and you don’t.” Mickey isn’t sure about that but anything to annoy Ian just to brighten up both of their days.

They decide to forgo their sexual escapade only because Mickey can’t stop laughing at Ian trying to get control of his fire for a solid ten minutes. But right now they’re happy and that’s all that really matters to them. It’s just a shame that happiness can be so easily shattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the chapter, let me know what you thought about it 
> 
> Sorry it took me so long to get this out I just didn't have the motivation for it at all 
> 
> Follow me on twitter [lightninghaski](https://twitter.com/LightningHaski)


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